Re: [Ren's apartment.]
He sounded sad, saying he had lost enough things, and Hannah wasn't surprised. He'd always been really, really careful not to talk too much about Louis, not to make Louis sound like a sure, sure thing, and he'd never come out and said he was in love. But Hannah knew, and she wasn't at all surprised to read the sadness in the lift of Ren's shoulders. She watched him down his beer. She watched his throat work, and she was quiet. Hannah's best way of knowing how to make someone feel better wouldn't help with him. He'd never wanted her in that way, and she was left with words that felt like air and nothing, and she wasn't really sure words were very good when someone was hurting. She couldn't get Louis back for him, which was what she really wanted. She couldn't make Louis realize what he'd given up, and she didn't think Ren would really appreciate it if she killed his curly-haired ex, and so she was left sitting there and feeling really, really powerless.
"Nice is good too, Ren. People came because they like you, and you were really sweet to give them a place to go. Some people, they don't have anywhere to go on holidays, and you made them feel at home," she pointed out. "But it doesn't sound like you had a very nice time," she added, softly, and she really did just want to wrap him up in something soft, and she wanted to take the hurt away.
She was glad when he asked his quiet question. She thought he should talk, that maybe he needed to. She was buzzed, but she could still listen, and she could still tell when someone was hurting. "I don't know why," she said truthfully. She'd never experienced love, and she really didn't know why people fell out of it. "But I think it's about him, not about you. It's something wrong with him, because you're wonderful and handsome, and he's really stupid, and you don't need to be nice to someone when they hurt you. He's the one who hurt you, so why are you the one apologizing?" She shook her head, and she took his hand and squeezed his fingers with her own. "You aren't dumb. He did everything a person could do to make you think he felt the same way you did. That isn't you being dumb. That's him being mean, Ren. You deserve someone better, someone who understands."
Maybe that wouldn't help to hear, and she kind of thought it wouldn't help her to hear it in his place, but maybe it would keep him talking. Keeping him talking was good. "Is there anyone else you like? Even a little bit?" She'd read enough romance novels to know all about rebounds, but maybe one would be good for him. Maybe it would distract him from his hurt, and maybe he'd wake up one day and find the hurt gone.